


We Are All Living in a Dream

by Swim2520



Series: 2020 Ace/Nancy Fall Drabblefest [9]
Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: 2020 Ace/Nancy Fall Drabblefest, Alternate Universe, Alternate realities really mess with the head, F/M, Humor, Nancy is with Ace in the Whisper Box, Not Nick, They both want it to be real, angst with hopeful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swim2520/pseuds/Swim2520
Summary: AU of 1x13 where Nancy and Ace are together in the Whisper Box, instead of she and Nick. When she wakes up, Nancy finds it difficult to separate between what is real and what is inside her head. Ace tries to help.Title from "Dream" by Imagine Dragons
Relationships: Ace/Nancy Drew
Series: 2020 Ace/Nancy Fall Drabblefest [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944706
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	We Are All Living in a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “I had a dream where we were together and it just felt so right.”
> 
> So....I honestly have absolutely no idea where this idea came from, but I really like it. I had this idea out of the blue and was lucky enough to find a prompt that could go with it. This has been my absolute FAVORITE to write so far. 
> 
> As in the last drabble I wrote, Stay the Night, I noticed that the show failed to explore a storyline that could have been a really interesting side plot to follow: the effects of the Whisper Box on Nancy. The show failed to address how confusing it is to live in an alternate reality. A lot of the inspiration for the effect of the alternate reality on Nancy is based on the Framework in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which you should totally check out (for reference it is Season 4 B). Although, there may be more confusion on Nancy's part as to what is real and what is just in her head, as the two realities looked remarkably similar to each other (in AOS, the Framework is backwards enough that they know instantly it wasn't real, despite how real it felt). 
> 
> This drabble also has a bit of an open ending. I have been mulling this over for awhile now and I've finally found the perfect prompt. So, I've been considering taking one of these prompts and turning it into a full-fledged multi-chapter story. Because of the open ending, there are a lot of different ways that I could take this story and I already have a few ideas. Let me know in the comments what you think about it.

“Good morning, sweetie. How’d you sleep?”

“Pretty good until Dad came in and woke me up.”

“Guilty as charged. We only get you for two more days before you go back to school.”

“Hey, what ever happened to turning my room into a gym?” Nancy wondered. 

“Your father is empty nesting in more predictable ways.”

“Let me guess...extra case load and excessive volunteering.”

Nancy grinned as she and her mother made fun of her father’s empty nesting. They had both known that, out of the three of them, he would have the hardest transition to Nancy moving out and going to college.

“I swear that the historical society sees him more often than I do,” her mother joked, kissing her father’s cheek. 

“So, what’s on the plan for today?” Her father asked her.

“Ace is working at the Claw today, so I’ll be there. I’ll probably be able to convince George to let him loose for a few hours.”

Besides just checking in on her parents (Nancy got homesick sometimes, no matter how much she denied it), she also returned to Horseshoe Bay whenever she could to visit her longtime boyfriend, Ace. He still lived in town along with Nancy’s other friends, George and Bess. They all met either through school (she and George) or through working at the Claw during high school. 

A long-distance relationship was in no way easy, even for them. Some times Nancy had the urge just to quit college and move back home just so that she could spend every day with him. But Ace knew better than anyone that Columbia was one of her dreams and he always encouraged her to follow her dreams, just as she did with him. Instead, they resigned themselves to texting and nightly FaceTime calls (though sometimes the urge to see each other was so great that they called during the day, too). 

“Aww...tell Ace that we say hello. And that I expect him to come over for dinner sometime soon. We don’t see him often enough,” her mother said. “Right, Carson?”

“Of course. Ace is welcome here anytime,” her father chipped in. 

That was another reason why their relationship had flourished. Her parents _loved_ Ace. More so than any other boyfriend that Nancy had ever had, in fact (not that there was a very long list). 

“I will tell him you said that.”

“Actually, since you and Ace will be together today, I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

“Sure. What is it?” Nancy asked. 

Although her parents had initially frowned upon her habit of solving mysteries (often interfering with police investigations), they had soon realized that it was rather pointless. Mysteries had a habit of finding Nancy and she was all too happy to solve them. Once she entered high school, her parents agreed to let her become an investigator for her father’s firm-finding evidence, interviewing witnesses that would aid his clients’ cases. She supposed that if they couldn’t stop her from solving mysteries, they could at least _try_ to control what she was solving. 

It had been rather incidental, dragging her friends into her cases. Bess and George had been surprising additions while Ace had been with her from the get-go. They actually fell in love while solving a mystery together and they made a great team. Now, people simply assumed that they would work together if Nancy was working a case (...well they weren’t wrong). 

“There’s a client of mine that just recently bought a house that has some problems. Can you and Ace go check it out?”

Not what Nancy had been expecting to do on her break, but she had never been the type to turn down a mystery-even if it was most likely just old, rusty pipes. 

“Yeah, we’ll swing by there.”

“Great. I’ll send you his information.”

* * *

Walking into the Claw always made Nancy smile a little wider and feel a little more relaxed. The restaurant was full of good memories. She, George, and Bess often had competitions to see who could serve the most tables with Ace acting as scorekeeper. Sometimes, Ace liked to get behind the stove to experiment, resulting in the spiciest seafood in all of Horseshoe Bay. Over time, it had become a competition for patrons to try Ace’s spiciest concoctions. If they were able to eat the whole plate, then they received a free T-shirt and a coupon for a free meal. 

The Claw had become a sort of home for Nancy, even if she no longer worked there. 

“Drewddles!” Nancy grinned as she felt someone hug her and heard George’s favorite nickname for her. 

“Hey, George.”

“How long have you been in town for?”

“I just got in last night to surprise you all. Speaking of which, where’s Ace?”

“Damn, I knew this was too good to be true. You’re here to steal my dishwasher,” George said, crossing her arms. At this point in their friendship, Nancy knew that she was putting on an act. 

“Actually, I’m here to steal my boyfriend.”

“He’s in the back. You still know the rules. No sex in my kitchen!”

Nancy held up her hands in defense. “That was one time, George.”

“Yeah, one time too many!”

She wandered into the kitchen where she saw Ace methodically washing dishes. Sneaking up behind him, she gently kissed him on the cheek. “Hey, babe.”

Later, she would say that Ace jumped a foot in the air. Ace would go on to deny this claim. 

“Nancy?! What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t come this month!”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“Mission accomplished,” Ace said. He moved to dry his hands, but after weeks of not seeing each other outside of a screen, Nancy didn’t really care if she got a little wet. She pulled him into a hug, nuzzling her have in his neck. Ace did not hesitate to wrap his still wet hands around her just as tightly. 

“I missed you.”

“Oh, I missed too, Nancy.”

They stayed there for another moment or two before Nancy pulled away and looked at Ace with a gleam in her eye. “How do you feel about helping out my father?”

“Babe, I will do anything to ensure that your father still likes me.”

“My dad loves you!”

“The shovel talk he gave me senior year says otherwise.”

“My dad just likes that you aren’t Parker.”

“That’s not a very high bar. And not very reassuring, either. But, moving on. What’s the job?”

* * *

When Nancy opened her eyes, she was immediately assaulted by the sight of her friends’ heads leaning over her. They all looked worried, just as worried as they had been when Nancy woke up from being poisoned. Oh...so she had been closer to death than she thought. 

The next thought that Nancy had was that she needed Ace. Her head was throbbing with every detail of the other world, the memories of living two lives was threatening to crush her, and Nancy was having difficulty separating what was real and what had just been in her head-i.e. dating _Ace._

She did not speak much besides from ensuring that she was back in the real world. Honestly, she didn’t have the capacity for much else. Instead of focusing on how it felt to loose her mother a _second_ time, Nancy chose to focus on how it felt to be in a relationship with Ace. 

It felt _right._ There was just something in his calm, steady presence that made Nancy want to slow down for a moment. No one else in her life had made her feel like this. Ex-boyfriends had always tried to force Nancy to slow down, which-of course-made her only want to move faster. It was different with Ace. He was willing to move at whatever pace she wanted and that inspired Nancy to slow down and _breathe._

As soon as they were alone in the Claw after pulling Nancy out of Larkspur Lane (literally as apparently being in an alternate reality took a lot out of a person), Nancy blurted out to Ace, “I had a dream where we were together and it just felt so right.”

Apparently, living in an alternate reality also removed her brain-to-mouth filter. 

“We were together?”

“Yeah. We were.” Well, there was no going back from that admission, so Nancy had just decided to tell him the truth. Even if it made their relationship awkward. 

“And it felt right?”

“To be honest, out of everything that happened in the Whisper Box, that is the one thing that I want to be real.”

“Nancy...” Here he goes about to crush Nancy’s dreams. “From what I’ve put together, based on assumption and what you’ve said, the Whisper Box was more than a dream. It was an alternate reality. And I’m willing to bet that you remember every aspect of that Nancy’s life as clearly as you remember this one.”

He waited for her to nod before continuing. “Since we’re being honest with each other, I have feelings for you too. But, I think we should take some time. Before we do anything, I imagine that you might need some help figuring out if this is you or what the alternate you felt.”

“Ace...”

“Nancy, I just want this to be real between us. Not a result of a life you lived in an alternate reality.”

As much as it hurt, Nancy understood. She would feel the exact same way if the roles were switched. 

“I might need help doing that.”

“I’ll be here to help in any way I can.”

“Can we just keep this between us?” Nancy asked. She made a brief gesture with her head to where George and Nick were in the office, hunched close together over the desk. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was brewing between them and Nancy was a genius. She knew. 

Ace nodded. Of course, he understood, too. He was much more observant than people gave him credit for. 

“Absolutely.”

“Thank you, Ace.”

“In the meantime, if you have trouble differentiating between realities, let me know. I’ll help you figure out what is real and what isn’t.”

“What if I can’t, Ace? What if I can’t differentiate between the two? Because I want us to be real, not just the outgrowth of feelings I had for you in an alternate reality that is messing with my head and-”

“Nancy, we’ll figure it out. I promise.”

The absolute confidence that filled Ace’s voice gave Nancy hope that maybe everything would okay. 


End file.
